§ 59. Mr. MARRIOTTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the sources of Ways and Means advances at the latest date for which particulars can conveniently be given?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe particulars given each week in the return published in the "London Gazette" each Tuesday show that, on the 17th April, Bank Ways and Means amounted to £39,500,000 and 1029 Ways and Means advances from other sources to £206,337,000. The other sources are the National Debt Commissioners, the Currency Note Investment Account, and various balances held by the Paymaster-General.
§ 66. Sir P. MAGNUSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can give the House an approximate estimate of the loss to the Revenue on Income Tax Account that would result from the separation of the incomes of husband and wife in their returns for payment of Income Tax and Super-tax?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINIf the marriage allowance which, in pursuance of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, it is now proposed to grant were maintained, and at the same time separate assessment were allowed, it is estimated that the immediate loss to the revenue would be £18,000,000 and that the ultimate loss would exceed £40,000,000. But, as the Royal Commission point out, if separate assessment were granted the marriage allowance should be abolished. In this case there would be an immediate gain of £2,000,000 to the revenue; but again, to quote the Royal Commission, "the result would be a shifting of burdens from the rich to the poor, because in the vast majority of cases the wife has either no separate income at all, or a separate income less than the amount of the present marriage allowance and far less than the allowance we suggest should be made." I should add that the immediate gain would soon be converted into a considerable loss by redistribution of income. In connection with the whole subject I invite the particular attention of the House to paragraphs 256–260 of the Report of the Royal Commission